Notch signaling represents a short-range intercellular signaling pathway that plays a critical role during embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis. Depending on the cellular context, Notch signaling is involved in the regulation of cell fate determination, differentiation, apoptosis and proliferation, but also in stem cell maintenance. Presence and intensity of Notch signaling in the cellular frame are temporally and spatially strictly controlled. In consequence, abnormal Notch activity can lead to various disease situations. Although Notch was historically identified as an oncogene, studies within the last decade have also demonstrated the tumor suppressive effects of Notch signaling (Koch and Radtke, 2010) (South et al., 2012). In particular in tissues in which Notch signaling induces differentiation such as the skin, and neuroendocrine organs, Notch functions as a tumor suppressor. Thus activating or increasing Notch signaling in cancers including but not limited to cutaneous and lung squamous cell carcinoma (Wang et al., 2011), head and neck cancer (Agrawal et al., 2011; Stransky et al., 2011), neuroendocrine tumors such as thyroid carcinoma (Yu et al., 2013), or neuroendocrine small cell carcinoma (Sriuranpong et al., 2001) and carcinoid tumors (Greenblatt et al., 2007) will induce differentiation and block growth of cancer cells.
Therefore, the development of tools to control Notch signaling is highly desirable. The present invention comprises for use a family of small molecules capable to enhance Notch signaling, resulting in the potential applications, which will be disclosed in the application. The applications are implementable in both human and veterinary medicine.